Louisiana book clubs share the books they’re reading

Local literati who participate in book clubs are keen to share their reading lists with others. Here are reading suggestions from book clubs in the Baton Rouge and Acadiana areas:

The University Presbyterian Church Book Club in Baton Rouge has been meeting about thirty years. The group reads mostly fiction. The first book the club read was “A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving and last month the discussion book was Fredrik Backman’s “Britt Marie was here.”

The club selects books on a rotational basis, based on alphabetical order, which is how one history fan persuaded the group to travel with Lewis and Clark in Stephen Ambrose’s “Undaunted Courage.”

The club takes occasional field trips, including a tour of the old Carville Leprosy Center, now known as the Gillis W. Long Hansen’s Disease Center, after reading “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” by Neil White.

In 2023, the Second Saturday Book Club in Lafayette has read and discussed “Our Missing Hearts” by Celeste NG, “Atlas of the Heart” by Brene’ Brown, “The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post” by Allison Pataki, “Mad Honey” by Jodi Picoult and “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro.

When the Baton Rouge Chapter of The Links, Incorporated increased membership activities, its book club was born. The approximately 10 members chose a variety of fiction, “The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek” by Kim Michele Richardson; nonfiction like, “Educated” by Tara Westover; biographies such as “Just as I Am” by Cecil Tyson and “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. 

They’ve also enjoyed author visits. For example, when they read “Cottonmouth” by Eric Yancy, a pediatrician, Southern University alumnus and native of Scotlandville, he spoke with the club via Zoom. 

In 2023, the club has read “The Island of Sea Women” by Lisa See; “His Only Wife” by Peace Adzo Medie; “All The Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr and “The Boys From Biloxi” by John Grisham. 

The Table of Contents Book Club in Baton Rouge has read “The Woman Who Smashed Codes,” by Jason Fagone; “We Were the Lucky Ones,” by Georgia Hunter “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Zora Neale Hurston and many more.

“Sometimes we lean into local or regional authors such as when we read Walter Isaacson, Rick Bragg, Clyde Edgerton and John Kennedy Toole,” wrote Aline Creed, a member of the club. “Sometimes we return to classics like ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Persuasion.’ This month the selection hits on multiple fronts, since we are reading ‘Ladies of Liberty’ by Cokie Roberts.”

Creed said in their book club, which meets in restaurants, the person making the recommendation is responsible to lead the discussion that begins as soon as the lunch orders are placed.

“Typically, they pose questions to consider and provide a bit of their own research into the author, the time period surrounding the story and/or the culture and customs of the setting that are enriching,” Creed said.

In 2023, the Kueleza Literary Book Club has read “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah; “The Blues: The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture” by Chris Thomas King; “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” by David Grann and “Fifty Words for Rain: A Novel” by Asha Lemmie.

In 2022 and 2023, The Pelican Book Club in Baton Rouge has read “Sooley” by John Grisham; “Perestroika in Paris” by Jane Smiley; “Home” by Marilynne Robinson; “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr; “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell; “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles; “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro; “Cokie” by Steve Roberts; “The Big Door Prize” by O’Neal Walsh; “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett; “The Netanyahus” by Joshua Cohen; “The Department of Sensitive Crimes” by Alexander McCall Smith; “The Bloomsbury Girls” by Natalie Jenner; “The Seamstress of New Orleans” by Diane C. McPhail; “The Reading List” by Sara Nisha Adams; “A Long Petal of the Sea” by Isabel Allende; “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus and “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng.